Emma Straub
POINTS TOTAL
- 0 TODAY
- 0 THIS WEEK
- 255 TOTAL
participant impact
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UP TO2.0whole food mealsconsumed
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UP TO8.0locally sourced mealsconsumed
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UP TO12plastic containersnot sent to the landfill
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UP TO2.0plastic strawsnot sent to the landfill
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UP TO20gallons of waterhave been saved
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UP TO20minutesspent outdoors
Emma's actions
Water
5-Minute Showers
I will save up to 20 gallons (75 L) of water each day by taking 5-minute showers.
Community
Support Native Communities
I will use the resource links provided below and spend 60 minutes learning about the native populations that lived in my area prior to colonization, and what I can do to support those that still exist.
Community
SIGN UP TO VOTE
I will make sure I’m registered to vote. While I’m at it, I’ll sign up to help others register too!
Transportation
Use Public Transit
I will use public transit 6 mile(s) each day and avoid sending up to (___) lbs of CO2 into Earth's atmosphere.
Nature
Enjoy the Sunrise/Sunset
I will enjoy the sunrise and/or sunset each day.
Water
Say No to Plastic Straws
An estimated 71% of seabirds and 30% of turtles have been found with plastics in their stomachs. When they ingest plastic, marine life has a 50% mortality rate. By asking for no straw when placing a drink order, I will keep 1 plastic straw(s) of out of the ocean each day.
Health
Reduce refined sugar
I will keep track and reduce my consumption of refined sugars, including sweetened beverages, candy, and processed foods.
Simplicity
Needs Vs. Wants
I will adopt a "Needs Vs. Wants" approach and only buy things I need.
Waste
Use Reusable Bags
If at all possible, I will not accept any disposable bags when making purchases.
Waste
Carry my Trash
I will carry all of my unrecyclable, non-compostable trash with me to raise my awareness of how much I send to the landfill.
Energy
Online Energy Audit
I will complete an online energy audit of my home, office, or dorm room and identify my next steps for saving energy.
Energy
Learn About Renewable Energy
I will spend 30 minutes learning more about renewable energy alternatives (i.e. solar, wind, biomass) in my region.
Food
Buy From a Farmers Market
I will purchase produce and meat from a local farmers market or food co-op.
Food
Whole Food Lifestyle
I will enjoy 2 meal(s) each day free of processed foods.
Participant Feed
Reflection, encouragement, and relationship building are all important aspects of getting a new habit to stick.
Share thoughts, encourage others, and reinforce positive new habits on the Feed.
To get started, share “your why.” Why did you join the challenge and choose the actions you did?
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Emma Straub 5/29/2025 6:19 AMHi all! For my eco-challenge focused on health and simple living, I decided to reduce my intake of refined sugar and to take a closer look at the purchases I make by being more conscious of my needs versus my wants. I have been attempting to reduce my overall carb intake over the last few months and have found the most difficult part to be reducing sugar consumption, so this was a great way to get motivation to do so. I was able to buy reduced sugar versions of some things such as condiments, but found eating plain yogurt was a good alternative to yogurts with added sugars, and adding honey to this made a great alternative for refined sugars in things such as ice cream and other desserts. It was great to find some other options and it felt good to eat cleaner for the week. Additionally, I was interested in lowering my consumption of goods, and found that monitoring my spending and ensuring that I was only buying things that I need instead of things that I want helped me in this category. I was able to avoid buying new things that I new I did not need and even was able to repair and clean a cutting board and some pans to avoid needing to purchase new ones.-
Amy Minato 6/01/2025 12:49 PMgood plan to reduce refined sugar! Have you tried stevia? also adding fruit to plain yogurt helps.
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Emma Straub 5/24/2025 9:11 AMFor this week's theme of nature and consumerism, I decided to focus largely on nature, as I don't get outside enough. Specifically, I dedicated 20 minutes each day this week to walking in nature, as well as 10 minutes each day enjoying the sunrise. I found it more challenging to motivate myself to spend 20 minutes per day in nature, as I live in the city and have to go out of my way to really be immersed in nature. I found some local parks to me, though, and eventually did find it very recharging to spend this amount of time outside simply enjoying nature. It seemed to help my focus overall. To enjoy the sunrise, I was able to see it almost every day this week on my way home from work. I often like to spend a few minutes outside on my way from my car to my apartment, and I usually get home around 5:30am, so I took this opportunity to linger outside and enjoy the sunrise. I was very grateful to have done this each day as it helped me ground myself and was a great reminder of the beauty of nature.-
Amy Minato 5/26/2025 6:48 PM -
Ava Miel 5/25/2025 8:16 AMHi Emma, it makes me happy to hear that the sunrise in the morning made you feel more connected to nature. It sounds very pleasant to see a beautiful sunrise after a shift at work, especially at that time of day when everything is quiet. I have similar experiences/feelings when I see a rainbow or particularly pretty clouds. Thank you for sharing!
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Emma Straub 5/17/2025 1:52 PMFor this week's eco-challenge about transportation, I attempted to reduce my number of trips by car, as well as spend more time on transit when alternate routes were available instead of taking my car. Fortunately I have a hybrid car, so am producing less carbon emissions than a fully gas-fueled car, but I'd still like to use my car less. I take the streetcar to school most days anyway since I don't want to deal with parking, but I have started to walk or take electric scooters to work instead of driving especially as the days get nicer. I have also attempted to consolidate the car trips that I make by trying to go to the same part of town on the same day for multiple errands. It's been somewhat challenging with my schedule to adjust to this, but it is part of learning to not need everything immediately and to plan ahead of time. It is also easier to use transit alternatives when planning ahead like this. Overall I am pretty happy with the progress I made this week!-
Amy Minato 5/19/2025 4:05 PM
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Emma Straub 5/11/2025 8:16 AMFor this week's eco challenge, my focuses on community included ensuring that I am registered to vote, and spending 60 minutes learning about the native land that we currently live on. I was very pleased to already be registered to vote, which I knew since I received the most recent local elections ballot. It was very interesting to learn about the people who occupied this area before it was colonized. I learned a lot about the ways that trade laws protect many Native made items from being sold and appropriated by others, and how there is a very distinct and important difference between appropriation and appreciation. There are new tools that provide you with information of the native land you are currently on, which is especially important if you are posting photos of a new hike, as you are able to tag the tribes that the land used to belong to. It is crucial that we acknowledge that this land is stolen land, and appreciate those who lived here before us.-
Amy Minato 5/13/2025 3:25 PMI'm interested in the tool that provides tribal info on wherever you are..is it an app? what a great idea! -
Yua OKUBO 5/11/2025 8:08 PM -
Taiya Essex 5/11/2025 10:51 AMHi Emma, I think voting is a great way to get involved with your community and learn about the issues that impact your community. This also inspires me to learn more about the land I live on! I know there are native people living here, but I don't know much about their specific culture. Thank you!
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Emma Straub 5/01/2025 12:45 PMHi all! This week I chose to reduce my water usage by limiting my showers to 5 minutes. I have been timing them each day and have averaged close to 4 minutes. I timed a couple showers before trying this challenge and found my average would be around 7 minutes, so it wasn't incredibly difficult to shave off a few minutes from my average shower. This has been able to reduce my water usage by approximately 6 gallons of water per day, or 42 gallons per week! Additionally, I participated in not using disposable plastic straws. I have my own metal boba straw, as well as silicone straws that split so they can be cleaned, and I chose to use these at the couple places I chose to eat out this week instead of opting for a plastic straw. I think this is a habit that I will continue to have after this class as it is an easy alternate to using plastic straws that negatively affect ocean life.-
Amy Minato 5/06/2025 1:49 PMi just bring a set of utensils (with straw) and a bowl with me for take out. good job on the shorter shower -
Avalon Zhu 5/04/2025 11:08 PMThis week, I also chose the option of reducing the shower time. It's indeed not difficult. Many times, we relax when taking a bath, so we unconsciously spend a lot of time. We can imagine this as a small task.
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Emma Straub 4/24/2025 11:37 AMSince I already eat as little meat as I possibly can, I decided this week to make as many meals out of whole foods that I could, and to shop for my produce at local farmer's markets. I managed to eat two meals of non-processed food for every day so far this week. To do this, I bought a lot of produce at the Saturday Farmer's Market, including broccoli, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, and spinach. I was also able to locally source chicken from a natural grocer that sells local chicken, and this comprised most of my meals this week as my partner and I meal prep. I found it not only felt better connecting with community members through the farmer's markets, but my body feels better eating whole foods, and finding local vegetables means they are a lot more flavorful as they don't have to travel long distances. These challenges encouraged me to visit my local markets more often and try to source more food locally.-
Amy Minato 4/30/2025 8:06 PMi bet it was delicious! i think we have to consider the cost to our health of poor quality food... -
Ella Waldrop 4/24/2025 11:21 PMYay! Hi Emma,
That sounds so awesome, and I am looking forward to going to the farmers market this week too. I also eat meat/ consume dairy, I need to carve out some time to learn about local options for the two, it seems a lot more daunting than produce for some reason. Also, yay for meal prep because less food wasted, and also local, I love it :)
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Emma Straub 4/14/2025 8:55 AMFor this week’s eco-challenge, I reviewed resources and learned about sustainable energy for 30 minutes, as well as doing an online at-home energy audit of my apartment to learn where energy use could be improved. It was suggested by Energy Trust of Oregon that I utilize PGE’s low income program or use their energy saving tips. I was also recommended to use a different material in the window frames if possible. I currently live in an older apartment building and there aren’t many ways to improve the energy use on my end without receiving agreement from the building owners. While there are small improvements that could be made such as water usage, I am on the third floor and have so little water pressure that water-saving attachments for the shower and sinks would be ineffective.For my learning about sustainable energy, I read the article Green hydrogen: A pathway to a sustainable energy future by Hassan, Q., et al. It was really interesting to learn about the places that green hydrogen could become more useful in, especially as a fuel source for industries such as transportation, energy storage, and power generation, things that ordinarily require traditional fuels such as gasoline. Green hydrogen is easily storable and therefore is a better candidate to replace fuel in the long run. This source of energy would also grow the economy by providing jobs to the country, and would greatly enhance energy security. Unfortunately, it has been difficult so far to expand the use of green hydrogen as an energy source due to the lack of willingness to grow sectors outside of gas and fossil fuels. More research will ultimately need to be done in order to expand sustainable sources of energy as replacement for gas and fossil fuels in the sectors of transportation, power generation, and industry.
References
At Home Online Assessment. Energy Trust of Oregon. (2025). https://energytrust.clearesult.com/assessment/customer/recommendation/
Hassan, Q., Algburi, S., Sameen, A. Z., Salman, H. M., & Jaszczur, M. (2024). Green hydrogen: A pathway to a sustainable energy future. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 50, 310–333. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2023.08.321-
Ella Waldrop 4/18/2025 6:36 PMHi Emma, I totally relate to your struggle of being at the mercy of an apartment building! My ecochange project focuses on food scraps and compost, and I emailed my landlord and asked for a compost can for my complex, to which he said no :( It can be frustrating!! Feeling like we can't even make choices we want when we are at home, even though we know that they will be beneficial! Thank you for your research :) Best of luck to you -
Amy Minato 4/14/2025 4:42 PM
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Emma Straub 4/10/2025 6:05 AMHi all! I just wanted to share about my experience with the eco-challenges about waste this week. I chose to use only reusable bags, a practice which I usually follow but can forget if I don't bring a bag with me. This week I was really dedicated and careful to make sure I have a reusable bag in all my purses, one in my car, and one next to my front door so that I can take it with me if I need it. I saved about 5 bags that would have been disposable ones previously.
Another practice I decided to try was carrying my trash with me throughout the day in order to have a better perspective on the disposable items I have been contributing to the landfill. It was very alarming to see that I not only threw away 11 different single use items in one day, but was using disposable silverware more than I thought! I plan to start packing silverware and bringing it with me to avoid this waste, and being more conscious of the packaging that my food items come in to find less single use plastic items. Thanks for letting me share my journey this week!-
Amy Minato 4/14/2025 4:43 PM -
Avalon Zhu 4/13/2025 10:52 PMI also chose the task of saving bags, because I went to the supermarket too many times last month, which caused me to save a lot of plastic bags, which I usually choose to use as my garbage bag, but the speed of use is far less than the speed of accumulation. I've decided to use my gym bag to go to the supermarket this month.
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